She moved to Tobias Drive on the city's west side in 1957 and always wanted a sidewalk for her three children to play on. In February, construction will finally begin.

RONI GALGANO / Union-Tribune

Alexia Stevens (left), city public works inspector, checked out the concrete work being done on Naples Street in the Castle Park area of Chula Vista recently. The city will pay for most of the improvements in the neighborhood.

The Tobias Drive sidewalks are part of the city's larger project to install streets, sidewalks and drainage systems in the Castle Park neighborhood. For years, the lack of sidewalks has served as a bitter reminder of empty promises from city officials.

No more, Krack said, holding a file with information on sidewalk construction. The stakes are planted in her front yard. The neighbors are tearing down their fences. Concrete has already been poured on neighboring streets.

Along with new sidewalks, the city will install new curbs, gutters, driveway aprons, manholes and sewer lines on three streets in the neighborhood. Streets will be repaved and, in some cases, residents may get new streetlights and mailboxes.

The total tab for a typical city block, surveying and inspection fees, is roughly $1 million, said Jack Griffin, the city's director of general services.

Previous efforts to improve the area were thwarted by the hefty price tag. In the past, plans required residents to pay all construction costs for the curbs, gutters, sidewalks and street resurfacing. Castle Park neighbors refused.

This time, the city will pay for all construction on Naples, which is considered a collector street serving traffic from other local streets.

Dixon and Tobias drives have formed assessment districts, in which each household will pay between $2,000 and $10,000 for its apron, the part of a driveway that runs from the sidewalk to the street.

Residents can pay the fee upfront or pay an additional levy on their annual property tax bills.

The city will pay for all the rest – the curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and street resurfacing.

Through the years, Krack and her neighbors have complained to the city about the need for sidewalks. Drivers often zoom down the streets, scaring families who walk to church, school and local stores.

When it rains, drainage spills off the streets and forms mud puddles on yards.

"It's a problem," said Councilman John McCann, who worked with Councilman Steve Castaneda to find sidewalk funding. "These people deserve sidewalks."

In new neighborhoods, such as those on the city's east side, developers install sidewalks. In old neighborhoods, such as Castle Park, residents pay part of the cost and the city pays the rest.

Castle Park is the largest of five neighborhoods the city annexed from the county in 1986. The annexation, known as the Montgomery area, added more than 20,000 residents to the city.

Krack remembers the annexation and the promises that came from dozens of local politicians who, over the years, vowed to improve the area's infrastructure with better sidewalks, drainage and streets.

"We waited and waited," Krack said.

Homes in Castle Park were prefabricated and constructed in the 1930s and 1940s. Developers didn't put in sidewalks and curbs, allowing quicker and cheaper access to middle-class residents hoping to break into homeownership.

Krack bought her home for $11,000.

Randall Blaesi, a member of the American Society of Appraisers who has assessed several homes in the area, said the dwellings typically sell for $400,000 to $450,000 today.

Blaesi said the value that new sidewalks and resurfaced roads will add to the homes easily exceeds the construction costs incurred by residents.

The city has started building sidewalks on Dixon Drive, Naples Street and a smaller portion of Tobias Drive between Gentry Way and Orlando Court, south of Krack's block.

The city has plans to build sidewalks on six other streets in Castle Park if its federal loan application is approved. The city's ability to borrow from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has been delayed because an audit found that the city mismanaged previous HUD funding.

Construction on Naples Street, north of Krack's home, began in November and will be finished in March. Construction on Dixon Drive, one block west of Krack's block, began Dec. 5 and is to be completed in June. The city will seek bids in January to construct sidewalks on Tobias Drive. Street construction will begin in February and end in August.

"We need to reinvest and make a commitment to maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure in the west," McCann said.